what oil

[shadrack]

1988 325i m20 engine, what oil should i use, its abit tappety as they are so thinking of abit thicker oil to quieten her down abit

[nicey]

run it on 10/40 semi, have you checked/set your tappets?

[shadrack]

no, anyone know settings or were i can get haynes manual

[burkey88]

to be honest id use 15w 40 as with an older engine the viscosity of 10w40 wil see it just get burnt away easily

[Brianmoooore]

to be honest id use 15w 40 as with an older engine the viscosity of 10w40 wil see it just get burnt away easily

Rubbish!
Haynes manual is available online. The link is on this site somewhere.

[Saga]

Burkey, 15w40 and 10w40 have functionally identical viscosity at operating temperature. Which is what Brian is trying ( ;) ) to say. That's what the 40 bit tells you. So unless the OP only takes 5 mile trips and allows the oil to cool fully between use, there will be no appreciable difference.

Someone may already have answered this question which I've raised elsewhere, but the oil grade chart in my owner's manual suggests that 15w40 is correct for summer use (although 10w would also be ok). People here seem to say you "must" or "should" use 10w40 only.

[Brianmoooore]

but the oil grade chart in my owner's manual suggests that 15w40 is correct for summer use (although 10w would also be ok).

That chart was written a quarter of a century ago, and oils have changed a lot in the intervening time.
The finest oil available then is probably inferior to the cheapest supermarket 'special' available today.

[Kos]

+1 to the above!

you wont see me running anything that fully synthetic in any of my cars !

[bimmer_e30]

Hi guy ive just gone on the casteral site at its recommending casteral edge 5w40 as the best oil however euro car parts is recommending 10w40 and you guys either 10 or 15w 40

so why the difference?

http://www.castrol.com/castrol/iframe.d ... Id=7044829